


Beaver Plays Hooky

by avgardner1



Category: Leave It to Beaver
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Bad Decisions, Best Friends, Car Accidents, Childhood Friends, Dead People, Disobeying Orders, Ditching, Ditching school, Elementary School, Family, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Family Loss, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Grieving, Guilt, Loss of Parent(s), Male Friendship, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Punishment, Single Parents, Skipping Class, Sneaking Around, Teenage Parents, grounded, principal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 10:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15362910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avgardner1/pseuds/avgardner1
Summary: Background Story: Beaver, Wally and Lumpy's parents has died in a truamatic car crash. After months and months of grieving, Wally and Lumpy decide to bring up The Beaver together, knowing that's what their parents would want. They didn't want Beaver going through more than he already has, which would be the foster system or getting a new family.Beaver has gone through a major tragedy. Wally and Lumpy agreed that the only two people who should have full custody and rights to his upbringing is them.Story Summary:  Beaver and his best friend, Larry, decide to skip school in order to free themselves from getting punished. Will they be able to pull it off without getting caught?





	Beaver Plays Hooky

**_(MUSIC)_ **

**_..LEAVE IT TO BEAVER.._ **

**_STARRING…_ **

**_FRANK BANK_ **

**_TONY DOW_ **

**_RUSTY STEVENS_ **

**_AND…_ **

**_JERRY MATHERS_ **

**_AS THE BEAVER…_ **

**_(MUSIC)_ **

Lumpy is getting the table ready in the kitchen for breakfast. He just put down the tea pot filled with coffee as Wally walks in wearing a suit.

“Morning,” Lumpy greeted with a smile. 

“Morinin’ Lump,” Wally replies, in a bit of a hurry, straightening his suit. “I just have enough time to grab a cup of tea.”

“Don't you have time for a soft boiled egg, too?” Lumpy asked as Wally shakes his head. 

“No.”

“Oh that's fantastic, now I have to--” Lumpy started annoyed that he make a soft boiled egg to go to waste. Then he noticed the outfit Wally was wearing. “Why are you wearing that suit?” 

Wally looks at him confused.

“What's the matter with this one?” Wally asked. “There's no stains that I could see… all the buttons are there.”

“I know that, you dummy!” Lumpy snapped at him as Wally rolled his eyes. “But don't you have that meeting with your boss today for your after school job?”

Wally suddenly remembers and sighs annoyed, “Oh yeah. I forgot all about it. I'll have to skip the tea, I'll just have enough time to change.”

Wally walks towards the door as Beaver barges through, startling Wally for a moment. He backs up and walks around him.

“Hi Wally, Hi Lump,” Beaver greets excitedly wearing his coat, shoes and hat. “Got my lunch?”

“It's right here,” Lumpy said walking to the counter in on the wall, in between the two doors. He walked back and gave Beaver his lunch. 

“Why were you so late coming downstairs?” Lumpy asked folding his arms.

“I was changing my underwear,” Beaver answers which made Lumpy confused.

“After you got dressed?” 

“I was wearing it backwards,” Beaver replied. “I couldn't walk right.”

Lumpy chuckles slightly and rolls his eyes, “Well, you better hurry.”

“Ok,” Beaver was making his way outside the back door, but he remembered something he wanted to ask and turned around, “Hey Lumpy, can I get tattooed?”

“Well, you are going to have to ask--” Lumpy starts as he picked up some dishes. He got surprised by Beaver’s question and turns around to face him from the kitchen sink, “Tattooed?”

Beaver nods with a smile. 

“Are you crazy Beave, no!” 

“Gee, even if I saved up my own money?” Beaver asked as Lumpy sighed.

“Did you not just hear me?” Lumpy said in a firm tone. “You are not getting tattooed!”

“Oh but--” Beaver started to complain as Larry walked up behind him.

“Hi Lumpy, I came to walk Beaver to school again,” Larry said nicely as Lumpy calmed down from being firm with Beaver, and smiled small.

“That's fine, Larry.”

“I'm ready to go, Larry,” Beaver said with a smile. They were about to leave but Lumpy stopped them.

“Now look, you two have been late to school twice this week and I don't want any messing around on the walk to school,” Lumpy said in a fatherly tone, which almost scared the two kids, but didn't. 

“Oh we won't be late Lumpy, if we aren't in our seats by the second bell, Mr. Bloomgarden will kill us,” Larry explained and nudged Beaver. “Won't he Beave?”

“He will really kill us!” Beaver added in holding his lunch kit. 

“Well then go! I had my share of punishments, and you’ll both get clobbered!” Lumpy snapped at the two kids who nodded. “Hurry up!” 

Beaver and Larry ran out the door as Lumpy sighed with a small smile. 

* * *

 

Beaver and Larry ran through the back gate and across the driveway. Beaver made a break for it, running ahead of Larry. 

“Hey Beaver, wait up!” Larry called out, running after him. Beaver stops, waiting for Larry on the sidewalk. “Wait!” He catches up to Beaver. “What are you running for, we are only going to school.”

“Yeah.”

They both walk down the sidewalk on the way to school.

* * *

 

Wally walks back into the kitchen in his blue suit. Lumpy turns around and smiles.

“Thanks for reminding me, or else I would've gotten clobbered by my boss, who expects me to dress properly,” Wally said to Lumpy who agrees.

“Yeah.” Lumpy pours a cup of tea for Wally and hands it to him.

“Did Beaver get off ok?” Wally asked quickly drinking the tea. 

“Yes… He asked the stupidest question ever, get this, he wanted to know if he could get tattooed,” Lumpy said as they both laughed thinking it was a crazy idea for a kid his age to even think about tattoos.

“No foolin’?” Wally asked, calming down from laughing. 

“Why would a kid his age want to get tattooed?” Lumpy asked.

“I never knew anyone like us who didn't want to get tattooed,” Wally explained ad Lumpy nodded in agreement. “On the other hand, I never knew anyone that actually gone through with it.”

A car honk is heard outside. 

“Oh that looks like your ride,” Lumpy said cleaning up the dishes off the table.

“Yeah, maybe we can give Beaver a lift,” Wally said as he put down his tea on the kitchen table.

“Oh no, at the rate he and Larry went, they are probably halfway to school by now,” Lumpy said as Wally chuckled. “I have to get ready for school.”

“See you at school later,” Wally said as they parted ways.

* * *

 

Beaver and Larry are sitting down on a wooden bench watching construction machines dig into the ground.

“Beaver, how come dirt falls apart when you pull it out of the ground?” Larry asked confused.

“I don't know, when you put it in water it turns to mud,” Beaver answered as Larry nodded in agreement.

“Yeah,” Larry said agreeing with Beaver as they are watching the machines. “And when you got it in your ears, you get hollered for it.”

“It's funny stuff alright, but I guess dirt is what holds the world together,” Beaver replied as Larry nods. Beaver turns and faces Larry, “Hey Larry, we better be getting to school, we don't want to be late again and get in trouble.”

“We only been here for a couple seconds, let's watch them dig another hole!” Larry exclaims excitedly. “They might hit a water pipe or something!”

Beaver agrees with a giant grin, “Yeah!” 

They go back to watching the machines. A truck comes along behind them and runs over their school books and lunch kits. Larry and Beaver exchanged worried glances and run over. They lean over and open their lunches, which are revealed to be completely squashed.

“Gee, what a mess,” Beaver said. Larry picks up his notebook which is all dirty and the pages are ripped.

“Hey Beaver, look at my notebook,” Larry adds in. “It has chocolate milk all over my arithmetic!”

“My tomato leaked over everything!” Beaver exclaims looking at his squashed lunch kit. Larry stacks all of his books together and picks them up.

“I guess we better forget about our lunches and get onto school,” Larry explained to Beaver. Beaver nods and collects his books and his ruined lunch.

* * *

 

Larry and Beaver are standing behind the school fence, staring at their school which has already begun.

“Do you think the second bell rang, Beaver?” Larry asked, facing Beaver.

“It think it rang a long while ago,” Beaver answers. “We better get in there, Larry.”

“But gee, we don't have our homework, and we’re late again,” Larry responded nervously. “Miss. Landers will send us to Mr. Bloomgarden and boy, will he yell at us this time!”

Beaver sighed, worried as well, “Yeah, he warned us twice. But what can we do?”

“I'll tell you what we can do,” Larry said thinking of a plan that might get them out of trouble by the principal of their school. “We can not go to school at all!”

Beaver looks at Larry with wide eyes, surprised, “Gee,if we don't go to school, they'll really kill us!”

“Yeah but they won't kill us now, anyway Mr. Bloomgarden might get sick or something, and he might not get to kill us for a whole month,” Larry explained to Beaver.

“Yeah if you're gonna get killed, it's better to get killed later,” Beaver replies, agreeing to Larry’s plan. “Let's go hide someplace!” 

Beaver and Larry run down the street.

* * *

 

Lumpy is outside the front door, cutting some tree branches. He hears Wally call from the back door, “Hey Lump!”

Lumpy walks into the house surprised, “Wally?”

“Right here!” Wally exclaims walking in through the dining room.

“Wally, what are you doing here?!” Lumpy snapped more harshly than he intended. “It’s noon! I was just about to go back to school, lunch is almost over!”

“After I went to the meeting, I walked to school, and then when I got there, my teacher sent me home,” Wally explained to Lumpy who looked at him oddly. 

“Oh well, that clears everything up, why did she sent you home?” Lumpy asked confused. He gasped nervously and backs up, “You’re not sick, are you?”

Wally rolled his eyes, “That what she thinks. I wasn’t going to argue with her.”

“She thought you were sick?” Lumpy asked with a smile. “Oh, you must've came up with some pretty good excuse to ditch school… what happened?”

Wally laughed. 

“I was in biology class coughing, and then she sent me to the nurse,” Wally started to explain to Lumpy. “She said my throat was sorta red.”

Lumpy backs up a little bit, keeping a safe distance from Wally, “Esh.. I'm not about to get sick! You should go upstairs and get in bed, so Beaver doesn't catch this…”

“Alright Mom,” Wally teased as Lumpy glared at him. 

“Don't ever call me Mom, you creepy twerp!” Lumpy said throwing a pillow at him, and Wally caught it chuckling. 

“I'm sorry, I'll call the doctor when I get upstairs,” Wally said as Lumpy rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“That be a good idea.” 

Lumpy walked back to the back door to finish trimming the hedges that were growing too far out.

* * *

 

There is a big bill board outside, and it reads,  **“MEXICO CITY, Champagne Flights, ‘GET AWAY FROM IT ALL”** . Underneath, Beaver and Larry's feet are shown. In behind, they are sitting on the backboard of the sign, with their books.

“How long do you think we've been here, Larry?” Beaver asked, bored.

“I think about, two hours,” Larry said.

“Oh,” Beaver replied. “How long does it take to starve to death?”

“I don't know, I read about two girls on a life raft, and they didn't have any food for a whole week,” Larry explained. “And they hardly starved.”

Beaver thought about it and replied, “That was on the ocean, wasn't it?” 

“Yeah.”

“I think you can starve to death quicker on land,” Beaver explains as Larry nods.

They sit in silence for a couple more seconds until Larry speaks up, “What do you suppose the guys are doing at school, Beaver?”

“I don't know,” Beaver answers. “I guess, they are in the cafeteria, having lunch.”

“Yeah.”

“I wish I had my peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Beaver said thinking of his lunch Lumpy packed for him. “...Even if it was squashed up.”

“Beaver, let's not talk about lunch anymore,” Larry said as his stomach growled in hunger. Beaver looks at his friend and thought about it for a moment, and agreed.

“Ok, let's not talk about lunch,” Beaver agrees after a moment of silence. 

The two boys at behind the board for another moment. 

Beaver couldn't help but think about food because he was hungry so he turned to Larry and asked, “Hey Larry, what'd you have for breakfast?”

“Bacon and eggs,” Larry replied thinking about his breakfast as well as Beaver. “But I didn't get to eat it all. I had to go up and get washed.”

“I had French toast,” Beaver explained to his best friend sitting next to him. “But I didn't get to eat it all either. I had to go up and turn my underwear around.” 

“Oh.”

The boys sat in silence again for a while.

“Hey Beaver, I think I'm starving to death already,” Larry said facing his best friend, holding his growling stomach with his hands. Beaver looked at his stomach and placed both of his hands on it as well.

“Me too,” Beaver replied not feeling so good. 

“What do we do?” Larry asked. 

“Let's go tell a policeman,” Beaver suggested to Larry. “Wally said when you are in trouble, you should always tell a policeman.”

“ _ Not  _ when you’re playing hooky!” Larry reminded Beaver.

Beaver lowered his head as he held his stomach, “Whatever we do, We better do it soon.”

The boys sat in silence trying to think of a way to get something to eat for lunch. 

Larry perked up with excitement and faced his friend, “Hey Beaver, why don't we go to one of the supermarkets? Sometimes they give away free food samples.”

Beaver joined in on the excitement and smiled, “Yeah!” He then calmed down. “But one time they gave away free ice chips.” 

“We better take the chance,” Larry explained to Beaver. “We can't just stay here and starve to death.” 

They got off the board and grabbed their books. They crawled underneath the board and ran off to a supermarket close by.

* * *

 

Wally is in his and Lumpy’s room they shared. He is on his bed reading a comic book as Lumpy entered.

“Did you talk to the doctor?” Lumpy asked with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, he's making some calls and will stop by after lunch,” Wally replied lying against his pillows at the head of the bed. Lumpy saw his biology book on the bed.

“Were you reading your textbook?” Lumpy questioned Wally as he chuckled. “Instead of comic books?”

“Yep, read a whole chapter,” Wally responded. “I'm a whole day ahead of my class now.” 

Lumpy rolled his eyes, “I'll never understand why you choose to do homework on a lucky break.”

“Really Lumpy,” Wally said with an eye roll as well. “Hey Lump, can you bring up the Television set?”

Lumpy got irritated at him, “Do you really need the TV set? That takes a lot of time to lug up here!”

“Lump, you can be a little bit understanding, can't you?” Wally replied thinking of a great plan to get Lumpy to agree to bring up the TV set. “If you were home sick, you would want the Television, and I would bring it to you.”

“No you wouldn't!” Lumpy said trying to challenge him. 

“Do you wanna bet?”

“Alright, fine,” Lumpy said giving up, not wanting to make a bet and lose. But also knowing that Wally was secretly right. Lumpy was walking to the door but Wally called out to him. 

“Hey Lumpy, do you know that cows have two stomachs?”

Lumpy rolled his eyes and sighed, “I heard that in school.”

“Boy if people were like that, a guy can eat his lunch and dinner at the same time!” Wally said with a chuckle as Lumpy soon joined him. 

“Yeah, I guess that's one of the advantages of being a cow,” Lumpy replied as they both laughed heartily at the cow conversation. 

Lumpy left to go get the TV set.

* * *

 

The C £ J supermarket. The sign reads, 

**In person today, your favorite TV star, Marshall Moran.**

**Presented by Chocolate Rockets, your favorite candy bar!**

**Free samples, autographed pictures!**

Beaver and Larry are looking curiously at the sign. Larry turns around and faces Beaver.

“Hey Beaver, it says free samples.”

“Yeah,” Beaver said excitedly. He turns and faces a crowd of people in the distant. He points to the crowd. “Hey, there’s the line where we get them.”

“Yeah, come on Beaver!”

They run into the lineup and start walking behind it. Two ladies cut in front of them as Larry states, “Maybe they’ll give us free sandwiches or something.”

“Yeah, maybe after this we can find a supermarket that gives away desert,” Beaver replied with a broad smile as they were getting near the entrance. They walk inside the tent as a poster is revealed on a nearby wall.

**TO-DAY ON TV…**

**Marshall Moran**

**12 noon**

* * *

 

Lumpy comes up into the bedroom with Wally’s lunch on a tray. His bed is faced towards the TV behind the window.

“Gee Lump, I could’ve came downstairs,” Wally said as Lumpy quickly places the tray on his lap and backs away covering his mouth and nose. Wally chuckles and rolls his eyes.

“Oh no, you better stay up here until the Doctor looks at you,” Lumpy said through his fingers.

“Lump, calm down,” Wally said stifling a laugh. “You’re acting if I have the measles or something. It’s probably just a cold.”

“I’m not taking any chances getting sick!” Lumpy snapped keeping his distance from Wally who shook his head with a smile.

“What’s this?” Wally said changing the subject, looking at his food.

“Just cheese and crackers,” Lumpy said through his fingers, not taking his hand off his face. 

“Gee, I thought I should get a hamburger in before the Doctor tells me I can’t have any,” Wally explained to Lumpy who slightly scoffed annoyed finally releasing his hand off his face.

Lumpy rolled his eyes, “What do I look like, a mind reader? Just be grateful I came up here with food.”

“Alright, alright,” Wally said trying to avoid an argument with him. Those fights don’t always end well and he can’t afford Lumpy not speaking to him while he’s sick. “Can you turn on the TV?”

“Fine, what channel do you want?” Lump said annoyed as he walked over to the TV set to turn it on. 

“Try channel seven,” Wally replied leaning up against his pillows on his bed. “I think Marco Marengo is on in a couple minutes. He’s the guy that shows cowboy pictures in between commercials.”

“I know what’s on channel seven!” Lumpy said a little harsher than he intended as Wally rolled his eyes. He switched it to the channel on the side of the TV and sighed. “There you go.”

Lumpy walked out of the bedroom as Wally chuckled slightly to himself.

* * *

 

The boys were directed to their seats on the back in front of two rows of people. They looked at each other confused about what is happening. Larry faced the man who is directing two ladies to their seats.

“Why do we have to sit down, mister?” Larry asked the man confused.

“The show starts in a couple minutes.”

Beaver looks at Larry just as confused as he is, “Show?”

“Beaver, this thing is going to be on TV!” Larry realized starting to get worried standing behind their chairs. 

“Shh!” A woman interrupted them as they nodded nervously and sat down in their chairs.

“Quiet everyone, standby…”

A man in a cowboy outfit walks out on stage, getting ready to perform. The other man walked behind the cameras and knelt down.

“Now!” The man whispered giving the cowboy a signal to start the show.

“Howdy there, howdy!” the cowboy actor begins to say to the cameras. “Howdy!”

The crowd cheers. 

“We would’ve been better off going to school,” Beaver whispered to Larry who nodded scared and gulped.

* * *

 

Lumpy came back up to their room and gave Wally his glass of orange juice. He is still sitting in bed watching TV.

“There you are, your majesty,” Lumpy said sarcastically with a bow as Wally chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Thanks.”

“Boy, what a cornball,” Wally said watching the TV as Lumpy agreed picking up the tray off his lap. “Gee Lump, this is real corny. They aren’t talking about cowboy pictures, they’re just talking to a bunch of ladies.”

“You said it, I’ll change the channel for you,” Lumpy said as he took the empty glass from Wally. 

Lumpy walks over to change the channel but he got distracted by a comic book on the floor. He picked it up and started reading it. As he was reading, Wally was watching the man interview two young boys on the show.

_ “Tell me, what’s your name son?”  _

“Um, Larry.”

Wally’s eyes bugged open and his mouth hung open, staring at the TV in absolute shock. He barely could process the information he was getting from the show he was watching. Lumpy dropped the comic book and turned around to face the TV hoping he didn’t hear what he thought he did.

_ “What is yours?” _

“Uhhh… Beaver.”

Lumpy’s eyes shot open and his mouth hung open, not able to process that Beaver ditched school.

“I cannot believe this!” Wally said putting his hands on either side of his head. “What was Beaver thinking?!”

Lumpy tried to speak up, but he was so shocked that he grew speechless and sat down slowly as he watched the TV show.

_ “Is this good lady here, your mother?” The cowboy asked pointing to the woman sitting next to Beaver. _

_ Beaver shook his head, “No. I don’t think she’s anybody’s mother.” _

“That little goof didn’t go to school!” Lumpy finally said in anger. 

“Well, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Wally replied trying to stay calm and relaxed. “Maybe they took the whole class down there.”

_ “You got a day off from school today, huh?” the Cowboy asked authenticity to the two children.  _

_ “Yeah, I guess so,” Beaver replied getting a sick feeling in his stomach. _

_ “A holiday, huh?” _

_ “Yeah, that’s what we’re having, a holiday,” Beaver said feeling awful about lying on live television.  _

_ “What’s the occasion?” He asked passing the microphone onto Larry.  _

_ “We had a flood,” Larry lied trying to think of an excuse fast on his feet. _

Lumpy scoffed very annoyed at Beaver, and partly Larry as well. Thinking that was a very dumb excuse. 

_ “Your school flooded?” The man asked surprised. _

_ “Uh yeah, um, I think just um, our classroom has flooded,” Beaver said trying to add onto the story Larry has started to tell the man. _

_ “Where are all the other little boys and girls in your class?” The man asked suspiciously not believing their story about the flood. _

_ “They’re at school,” Larry said nervously. _

“Oh no,” Lumpy said worried and furious at the same time watching the TV show.

_ “I thought you said your classroom has flooded.” _

_ “Well, um uh, um, maybe just our two desks got flooded,” Beaver lied trying to think of an convincing story. _

“I’m thinking of a kid who’s really going to get it, later,” Wally said angry and concerned at the same time. “Playing hooky then going on Television. Oh boy, he’s really asking for it.”

They watched as the two boys got a free box of chocolates from the Cowboy. Lumpy got so annoyed that he just stood up and turned off the TV. He started to make his way to the door, but stopped when Wally called.

“Where are you going?”

“Where do you think?!” Lumpy snapped harshly. “I’m going down to that market and get those little sneaks! They ought to be ashamed pulling a stupid stunt like this!”

“I’ll say,” Wally said just as angry as he is. “You bring Beaver right home by the scruff of his neck. I have a few things I want to say to him.”

“Oh don’t worry, I will,” Lumpy said through gritted teeth. “Boy, is he going to get it good this time.”

“I’m going to make sure he never does this again,” Wally replied leaning up against his pillows, furious but yet concerned to make sure that Beaver is ok. 

“You’re going to holler at him, aren’t you?” Lumpy realized.

Wally rolled his eyes, “Of course, you dummy! How else am I going to get through to him like a Father?”

“You have a point, but don’t be too hard on him,” Lumpy said with a sigh. “After all, he’s still a small, goofy kid.”

“I know Lump, now will you go get them!” Wally said firmly as Lumpy nodded and ran out of the bedroom to go get the boys.

* * *

 

Larry and Beaver are sitting behind the Mexico bulletin board. Beaver has the box of chocolates on his lap while Larry holds his stomach, not feeling so good. Beaver grabs another piece of chocolate and thought about eating it, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Beaver faced Larry and held out the chocolate in his hand. “Do you want some of my rocket bar, Larry?” 

Larry shows Beaver his half eaten rocket bar in his hand.

“I don’t think so,” Larry replied. “I didn’t eat as much as I thought I would.”

They sat in silence until Beaver spoke up again, “Hey Larry, do you think anyone saw us on TV?”

“Sure they saw us,” Larry said in a nervous tone. “I bet a couple million people saw us.”

“Yeah,” Beaver sighed worried before he turns to Larry again and snaps, “Hey Larry, why did you have to go and tell that goofy story about having a  _ flood  _ for?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to tell them we had a hurricane,” Larry explained in defense for himself. “I thought a flood would sound better.”

Beaver thought about what Larry said for a moment.

“You know, I wish we haven’t played hooky,” Beaver admitted feeling the guilt catching up to him. 

Larry nodded in agreement, “I wish so too.”

“Well, I wish we wished that before we played it,” Beaver said with a sigh.

“That was a goofy idea of yours, ditching school,” Larry said putting the blame on his friend. Beaver’s eyes shot open and faces him annoyed.

“Goofy idea of mine?!” Beaver snaps back, irritated at Larry for blaming him for the situation they got themselves in. “Don’t you remember Larry, it was your idea!” Tears start forming in his eyes. “You said if we ditched school this morning, we wouldn’t get yelled at till later!”

“Yeah, but if we went to school right then, we would’ve got yelled at right away,” Larry said with tears forming in his eyes as well. “And it would be all over with.”

Beavers face softened after a moment feeling bad for snapping at Larry the way he did.

“Yeah,” Beaver theorized. “I guess if you’re going to get it, there’s no real time to get it.”

“Yeah,” Larry agrees with a sigh.

* * *

 

Wally ran downstairs in spite of the fact that he was sick and opened the door for Lumpy who walked in with a disappointed expression on his face.

“I’ve been worried,” Wally said closing the front door. “Where the heck have you been? Did you find them?”

“I found Beaver wandering around by himself,” Lumpy started to explain annoyed as Wally took a deep breath in relief. “He was waiting for school to let out so he can act like he was at school.”

Wally shook his head irritated at Beaver for this mess he got himself into.

“How are you doing?”

“The doctor left fifteen minutes ago,” Wally replied. “He said I’ll be fine if I just stay home today.” Wally looked around and got confused because he couldn’t see Beaver anywhere. “Where is Beaver? Why didn’t you bring him right back here so I can yell at him?”

Lumpy walked into the living room as Wally followed behind.

“I thought a suitable punishment is to have Beaver go straight to Miss. Landers and tell her  _ exactly _ what he has done,” Lumpy explained to Wally in a strict, harsh tone that was a little bad than he intended it to be. “He hesitated, but I forced him to go right inside and tell her.”

“Good idea,” Wally replied folding his arms over his chest. “I’ll have it out with him later.”

“But isn’t that being too hard on him?” Lumpy asked. “After all, Beaver’s teacher is going to save you the trouble of hollering at him.”

“Oh no, Beaver has got to learn to have good judgement,” Wally explained to Lumpy. “And sometimes good judgement is learned by getting caught. I’m sure he’ll think twice before doing something goofy anytime soon.”

Lumpy nods in agreement.

* * *

 

Beaver sighs as he walked through the front door carrying his school books. Wally walked down the stairs and folded his arms, cross at Beaver. Beaver looked up at Wally and gulped nervously.

“H-hi Wally,” Beaver said with butterflies in his stomach. 

“I hope you spoke to Miss. Landers,” Wally said firmly as Beaver nodded instantly.

“Yes I did.”

“Good, now come in the living room, I have a few things to say to you,” Wally said putting a hand on Beaver’s shoulder and lead him into the living room. They both sat on the couch.

“Oh boy,” Beaver mutters under his breath nervously, finding it hard to hold back his tears and look directly at Wally.

“Did you honestly think you would get away with playing hooky?” Wally started in a very strict tone. “Beav, you have to learn to use your good judgement.”

“Yes sir,” Beaver said quietly fidgeting with his fingers. “But, bad ideas seem like good ones at the time, until you get caught.”

“You know you can’t afford to skip school,” Wally continued in a firm voice. “I know it sucks to get yelled at Beave, but sooner or later you’ll realize that it’s for your own good. So you won’t make the same goofy mistake twice.” 

“I understand,” Beaver said with a deep breath, finally facing Wally with tears in his eyes. 

“Before you consider anymore sneaky ideas, always think that Lumpy and I will somehow catch you,” Wally said finishing up his lecture with his younger brother. 

“Yes, Wally,” Beaver said.

“You do know you have to be punished for this.”

“I know.”

“So, Lump and I decided that you go to bed an hour early for a week,” Wally explained as Beaver nodded fighting back his tears. “No goofing off with your friends and come straight home after school.”

“Ok,” Beaver said as a tear trickled down his cheek. 

“You understand why you’re being punished, right Beaver?” Wally asked in a more subtle tone seeing that he was upset about the entire situation today.

Beaver nodded with a small smile to assure Wally that he understood, “Yes sir. I know.”

Wally smiled back and put a hand on his little brother’s shoulder and squeezed it as Lumpy entered the living room from the kitchen. 

“You guys all through in here?” Lumpy asked.

“Yes we are,” Wally said patting Beaver on the back with a small smile. 

Lumpy smiled, “Good.” He turned and faced Beaver. “Beaver, you better go upstairs and get washed up. Dinner’s ready.”

“Ok Lump,” Beaver said politely as he stood up and went to walk upstairs to the bathroom. 

“How’d he take being punished for a week?” Lumpy asked knowing Beaver was upstairs and couldn’t hear them.

Wally stood up and smirked, “Not bad. He took his punishment better than I expected.”

“So he didn’t start crying?” Lumpy asked with a chuckle.

“No,” Wally replied shaking his head returning the chuckle. “He didn’t cry. He came close a few times, though.”

Lumpy smiled, “We are sure raising a brave, knuckleheaded kid, huh?”

Wally and Lumpy laughed as Beaver came running down the stairs into the kitchen with a smile on his face. He put a hand on Lumpy’s shoulder and agreed.

“We sure are, Lump. We definitely are.”

They both laughed and headed into the kitchen together.


End file.
